The Sonic franchise is one that is wide-spread across multiple installments. On modern day consoles, specifically Xbox and PC, the series is well preserved. But even with that in mind, some titles are not playable on modern consoles. Sonic Heroes is one of those games.
The title seemingly is getting the remake treatment according to insiders.
Sonic Heroes Remake in Development
Originally reported on by Universo Nintendo and further collaborated by Insider Gaming and SEGA/Atlus insider Midori, this remake would be built using Unreal Engine 5. Keep in mind, this would be Sonic Team’s first time using another company’s engine in many years.
The last time they did something like this, was fittingly enough, with games like Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog during the 2000s when they went multiplatform.
Sonic Heroes Remake would be releasing across multiple platforms, including the next-generation Switch successor.
Why Heroes instead of Adventure 1 or 2?
The hard-core Sonic fan would logically ask ‘why Sonic Heroes‘ instead of other Sonic titles that need the treatment more. I would argue, that Sonic Heroes is an ever-green Sonic game to revisit.
Similar to the recently announced Sonic X Shadow Generations, it was a ‘simpler’ game tonally and its colorful presentation matched the Classic era of Sonic. And if we know anything, critics favor the Classic tiles if Sonic Mania’s Metacritic means anything.
Also worth reiterating, the recent re-releases for the Sonic series include Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Sonic Origins, further proving my point.
What is Sonic Heroes?
Sonic Heroes is a game loosely set after the events of Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic and his many friends dash across various zones to stop Eggman from taking over the world.
Making the gameplay stand out from the Adventure series, you controlled three characters at once. One is the Speed type, letting you run at familiar high speeds. The others were Flying for controlled platforming and Power for simple melee combat. Conveniently, switching between the three characters was as simple as a button press.
The game’s level design channeled the Classic Era Sonic titles, having upper and lower routes. If all this sounds fantastic, that’s because it largely was. When everything works as intended, Sonic Heroes offers one of the best Sonic experiences around. The problem was a lack of polish.
Coming from the tight controls of Adventure 2, Sonic Team switching to the Renderware Engine to get the game running across multiple platforms impacted things. Gone are the tight controls, replaced with more unstable physics for Sonic and company. When playing Speed Types specifically, controlling your team was harder than it should’ve been.
In addition, progression to unlock the ‘true final boss’ was annoying. You needed to complete the game four times and complete seven challenging Special Stages with one team to access the final boss.
What Should Be Changed?
Ideally, the controls and progression need to be on top of the list. A great-feeling speedy character can make or break the experience. And with Sonic Frontiers making major strides forward regarding this, I would expect future Sonic games, remakes or otherwise, to continue that progression.
And making the Special Stages easier would go a very long way as well. Maybe taking a page out of the well-designed Special Stages from Sonic Mania or making special challenge levels ala the Cyberspace levels from Frontiers could be a good alternative.
Updating the character models and level assets to reflect Sonic Generations or Sonic Unleashed quality would be ideal as well. Sonic games can be genuinely beautiful at points and having linear levels to speed through could help accomplish that fidelity.
A Sonic game is nothing without its score and Sonic Heroes has a very Classic SEGA score. It would be amazing to see it re-recorded in a higher quality or offer an additional soundtrack with new remixes.
Ripping the Bandaid
One thing every Sonic fan should be expecting is the current voice cast to replace the original dub of Sonic Heroes. As Lord Sonic, I am very familiar with the community’s opinions on the matter of Sonic VA’s. But with the strides forward Sonic Frontiers took with the voice performance, I think they could successfully retain the tone Heroes ran with.
Overall Thoughts
Do I personally think this is going to happen? Honestly speaking, I am not sure. I would have personally preferred a more troubled game like Sonic the Hedgehog 06 or Shadow the Hedgehog gets the remake treatment.
Games that had genuinely good ideas but failed in very major ways. Use that as a blank canvas and realize the potential they had. Efforts the community has made with Sonic the Hedgehog 06 prove that.
But Sonic Heroes is a game I loved growing up and seeing it given a new lease on life is exciting regardless. Are you all excited about this GameCube/PS2/Xbox era classic coming back? Let us know in the comments below!
